Time Warp: Kinky Boots (Erik)

[Deleted]

June 2023

"The minute you walked in the joint,
I could see you were a man of distinction,
A real big spender,
Good looking, so refined.
Say, wouldn't you like to know
What's going on in my mind?"

Oriel continued humming the remainder of the song as he leaned over his vanity and started applying his red, red lipstick. He rubbed his lips together then puckered them out into a kiss towards the mirror. ""Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me. I'd fuck me hard."" He snorted at the idiotic quote from that 30 year old movie then pulled his lips back to make sure he didn't get any color on his teeth. He used his tongue to rub off a few spots.

"MOOOOOOMMM-EEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

A shrill voice came from the other side of the house and Oriel just rolled his eyes in pure exasperation. She woke up. And by the sounds of it, the three-year-old was none too happy about something.

"Coooming..." he called back derisively, wishing the girl could just stay still and quiet for 10 minutes straight. "Mommy" had to get ready for work, and little Devi wasn't making it any easier.

Normally he wouldn't have to get in full dress while at home but there'd been some last minute changes in their schedules this week that prevented them from using their normal resources. As soon as Phoenix got home from the rehab center, Oriel had to run off to the club just to get there on time for his shift. Normally, in this situation, they'd have one of their many babysitters come in and save them, but this week was weird for everyone and no one was available. So Oriel had resorted to getting dressed in his work clothes at home instead of in his dressing room at the club so he could watch Devi up until the last minute.

But geeeze, if that kid never sat still!

Oriel trudged out into the living room and shortly after, his leg was accosted and latched onto by a two and a half foot tall monster. "What's wrong?" he sighed.

"There's a spider!" She pointed across the sea of toys to the corner of the room.

"Where?"

"Under the cup."

"Under the--?" Great, she was brave enough to trap the darn thing, but not enough to kill it herself. "Alllright, I'll get it." Oriel started across the room with the human brace still wrapped around his leg, stopping by the couch to pick up a magazine and roll it up. "This cup?" he asked, pointing to the one upside down on the end-table. She nodded. Like the brave warrior he was, Oriel boldly lifted the cup with one hand and swung the magazine down with the other, never giving the poor arachnid a chance. "There, all gone." He threw the magazine back on the couch. Now to get this thing off his leg. Unfortunately, that's when the doorbell rang. "Coming!" he shouted, resuming his trek across the living room, child still latched on tight and giggling up a storm. "Well, I hope you're having fun," he mumbled.

Moments later, he opened the door. To the person outside, they'd see an unshaven man wearing lipstick with his mop of hair pulled back under a couple of hair claws and clad in a white tank, black gym shorts, and an open silk leopard-print robe that cut off just below his waist. His only footwear was the three-year-old korean child using his right leg as a dancing pole. "Hiii..." she giggled to the stranger with a tiny wave.

[Erik Stewart]

This wasn’t the first time he’d seen Oriel. He and Phoenix had settled down a long time ago, and their adopted daughter – whose name often slipped his mind – wasn’t quite the new addition she once was. Erik didn’t like kids, obviously. Not at all. Still, Erik behaved himself around her: did all the things expected of adults around children, that was, acknowledged them, responded to their inane questions with some semblance of gentleness, and so on… when she waved to him and tittered a greeting, he gave her a tight lipped smile and a lackadaisical wave.

Then he stuffed his hand in his pocket. “You look nice,” he told Oriel. That was only partway sarcastic. There was something so outrageously bizarre about it that he did find himself liking it, if only to soak in the flavor.

He himself had come a long way since his high school days, when he wore nothing but old, faded shirts, torn-sleeve denim, two pairs of sweatpants and jeans, and various other white trash assortments. When one was in the public eye they had to be presentable. The transformation wasn’t all his doing, however; his stylist had simply rubbed off on him, in between her pleading and her doting. Nearly everything he had in his wardrobe had been bought by her, or had, at least, been bought at her advice. There was even the sparkle of a silver cord around his neck.

Erik held up a plastic bag balancing on two of his fingers. “Where should I put these?” He’d brought them things, for each of them.

[Deleted]

It was amazing how Erik and Oriel even managed to stay friends all this time. Outside of their tendencies to be complete dicks and, as chance would have it, their interest in performing, they actually had very little in common. Oriel loved kids. Even as a kid himself, he never hated them and was more likely to treat them like younger siblings than to kick in their sandcastles, something that Oriel could've sword was something Erik had done at least once. Which was probably why it made sense that Oriel was so ready to have a kid(or rather, adopt one) once he'd finally gotten his shit together. Oriel would've never forgiven himself for bringing a child into a a life where he couldn't provide them with everything that they needed. And wanted. Yes, Oriel's lack of privilege and stability as a child gave him the tendency to downright spoil his own daughter.

That's why he made little effort to remove this bon-bon'ed growth from his leg when he knew he still had things to do. And depending on how you saw it, Erik's arrival had either been with perfect timing, or the worst. Oriel was determined to make it the former.

"Thanks…" he said dryly, stepping back to let his old friend in. Oriel's first impulse was to pull the country singer in for a hug, but if he did that he might ruin his face and….well this thing on his leg was mostly in the way. "You look….." …like a dork, but Oriel wasn't going to say it. "…nice…too." Well, maybe he did look nice. Maybe that's what his fans liked. Oriel's certainly liked the corset and fishnet stockings look. Though Oriel still preferred Erik wearing practically nothing at all...

Oriel motioned to the table and was about to ask what it was when Devi beat him to it. "Presents!? What is it?" The little girl finally jumped off her human-sized vehicle and ran to their visitor, clinging on the skinny man's leg and reaching up all grabby at the bag. "Gimme!" she insisted.

Oriel groaned and reached forward, engulfing Devi's entire scalp in his palm. "Devi-love, why don't you go put away your toys and we'll bring them to you later?" he coaxed as gently as possible.

"No! I want it now!" The three year old princess demanded.

Oriel just looked up at Erik with a face of indulgence. "She wants it now…" he said "seriously".